Side Door, our “Best of the Bay” nightclub, features blues on Friday, jazz on Saturday, and a B3 Sunday

Regulars know the Side Door Cabaret is the top music listening room in the area. Great sound, low lights, a bar, cabaret tables and an audience that comes to listen. Now, the world knows about the Side Door as well. The Side Door is a Best of the Bay winner in the upcoming issue of Creative Loafing.

It’s not underground, actually — it’s just down a short flight of stairs from the Palladium lobby — but the Side Door Cabaret is the closest thing to a basement boîte à la the Village Vanguard as you’ll find in these parts. Palladium Executive Director Paul Wilborn is a piano man himself, so he knows how to set the scene — round tables, low lighting, slightly raised stage. Even more important, he knows how to program, bringing in top-flight jazz, roots and blues performers as well as Broadway spellbinders like Susan Egan who sing as if they’re having a private conversation with everyone in the room. Coming attractions include jazz vocalist Whitney James and cast members from St. Petersburg Opera’s Sweeney Todd. 253 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-822-3590, mypalladium.org.

If you want to visit the Side Door this is a perfect weekend to do it. We’ve got Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones, doing Chicago Blues, swing and rockabilly on Friday at 8. Saturday night at 8 is the exciting return of Whitney James, the great jazz vocalist and her quartet. Whitney lives here, but plays jazz clubs around the country. Both of these shows are back by popular demand. Get your tickets early.

And Sunday afternoon at 4 we are featuring four of the Bay area best’s musicians – Shawn Brown on Hammond B3, Nate Najar on guitar, Jeremy Carter on sax and Kenny Suarez on drums. The show celebrates the release of a new documentary film – Killer B3s. You’ll get to see the trailer for the film along with the show, which will cover jazz, r&b, soul and rock.